We are about to embark on a tour of miscellaneous British locales......

Sidcup Art College

Sidcup Art College was an art college in Sidcup, London Borough of Bexley an outer suburb of Greater London, England.

One of the college's most famous students was Keith Richards, as we already know. The Rolling Stones, in their early days, played at Sidcup on December 12, 1962.

The Pretty Things, one of Britain's early R&B bands, was formed at the College in September 1963. One of the founding members was Dick Taylor, also a Sidcup student.

The College was demolished to make way for a large modern supermarket.

The college was located on Alma Road, Sidcup, Kent:

St. John's Wood

Pg. 176:Then came “Satisfaction,” the track that launched us into global fame. I was between girlfriends at the time, in my flat in Carlton Hill, St. John’s Wood.

St. John’s Wood, High Street:

St. John's Wood is a district of north-west London, in the City of Westminster, and at the north-west end of Regent's Park. It is approximately 2.5 miles north-west of Charing Cross. Once part of the Great Middlesex Forest, it was later owned by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. It is home to some of the most expensive properties in the world.

St. John's Wood was developed from the early 19th century onwards. It was one of the first London suburbs to be developed with a large amount of low density "villa" housing, as opposed to the terraced housing which was the norm in London up to the 19th century, even in expensive districts. Parts of St. John's Wood have been rebuilt at a higher density, but it remains a highly desirable residential district.

St. John's Wood is the location of Lord's Cricket Ground, home of Middlesex County Cricket Club and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and original headquarters of the sport. It is also famous for Abbey Road Studios and the street Abbey Road. Paul McCartney has owned a property in the area since the 1960s along with many other famous music and film stars.

Chef Clarissa Dickson Wright grew up in St. John's Wood, and the former Wrights' home is now home to supermodel Kate Moss. Actor Damian Lewis was born in St. John's Wood.

The Stones referenced it in their song "Play With Fire".

Flats today on Carlton Hill (I do not know the address of Keith’s former flat):

33 Mapesbury Road

Pg. 184:The Stones played every night, we were on the road all the time, but still somehow, for a while Linda and I managed to have a love affair. We lived first in Mapesbury Road, then in Holly Hill with Mick and his girlfriend Chrissie Shrimpton, and finally just the two of us in Carlton Hill, the flat I had in St. John’s Wood.

Le Cellier du Midi

Pg. 185:The restaurant we went to in Hampstead is still there – Le Cellier du Midi – and probably still has the same menu after forty years. It certainly looks identical from the outside.

This restaurant gets mixed reviews.

Menu:

On Facebook:

Redlands

Pg. 187:On a rare day off between tours I did manage to buy Redlands, the house I still own in West Susex, near Chichester Harbour;

Mapping it and more:

Cindy P’s interesting account of visiting Redlands:

Anita & Brian’s Flat in Kensington

Pg. 196-97:And naturally I gravitated to Brian’s – and Anita’s – on Courtfield Road, near Gloucester Road……Anita…..One of the prime women in the world. It was all building up in Courtfield Gardens. Brian would crash out sometimes, and Anita and I would look at each other.

MusicTrekker claims that the building above is where Brian and Anita lived, which is in fact 1 Courtfield Road, but it doesn’t look anything like the picture below from 1967 (click on the thumbnail):

This is Courtfield Gardens today. These buildings look more like the structure of the one in the old pic from 67 (but apparently remodeled). Maybe it was 1 Courtfield Gardens? Zoom in on the front portion of these white buildings:

Cheyne Walk

Pg. 270:Brando called up while Anita was in the hospital, to compliment her on Performance. “Marlon, that’s a good name. Why don’t we call him Marlon?” The poor kid was forced through this religious ceremony when he arrived home in Cheyne Walk, the rice and flower petals and the changing and all of that s**t.

Pg. 288:When Mick was trying to buy his house on Cheyne Walk, he couldn’t get the money out of Allen Klein for eighteen months because Allen was trying to buy MGM.

Click on the thumbnail:

Cheyne Walk is a historic street in Chelsea, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It takes its name from William Lord Cheyne who owned the manor of Chelsea until 1712. Most of the houses were built in the early 18th century. Before the construction in the 19th century of the busy Embankment, which now runs in front of it, the houses fronted the River Thames.

Keith lived on 3 Cheyne Walk, which is the one with the cars parked in front of it:

Click on the thumbnail of Keith's house:

Mick’s house on Cheyne Walk - #48 – where he lived with Marianne Faithful:

Mapping it:

Winnie the Pooh's House

Pg. 271:We’d already fired Brian two or thre weeks before he died. It had come to a head and Mick and I had been down to Winnie-the-Pooh’s house. (Cotchford Farm had belonged to author A. A. Milne, and Brian had recently bought it.)

Mapping it:

Stargroves

Pg. 283:By the time we got back to England, we had “Sugar,” we had “Wild Horses” and “you Gotta Move.” The rest we recorded at Mick’s house, Stargroves, on our new “Mighty Mobile” recording studio, and some at Olympic Studios in March and April 1970.

Mapping it:

The Wick

Pg. 368:I said I’d like to see Roniie, so let’s go. So I went down with Krissie to Richmond, to their house, called the Wick, and I stayed for weeks…..I had John Mills’s almost equally famous actress daughter Hayley’s bedroom.

The Wick is a house in Richmond, Greater London, located at the corner of Nightingale Lane and Richmond Hill in Surrey. The house was at one time owned by actor Sir John Mills who used it as his family home for many years. Ronnie Wood bought the house from Mills. The house is currently owned by Pete Townshend of The Who who bought the house from Ronnie in the late 1970s.

The sound of the wind around the house reportedly inspired Mary Hayley Bell, actress, writer and wife of Sir John Mills, to write the novel Whistle Down The Wind which was made into both a film and an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

Mapping it:

Blakes Hotel and Old Church Street

Pg. 388:Anita, Marlon and I moved around. We stayed in Blakes Hotel. We didn’t last long there either, so we moved into a rented house in Old Church Street in Chelsea, recently vacated by Donald Sutherland.

Blakes Hotel website:

On the map:

Old Church Street:

Gedding Hall

I don’t think that this is covered in the book, but this is Bill Wyman’s house in Suffolk. It has a moat around it.

From a recent article in Forbes Magazine:

"I always wanted to live in a castle," says Wyman, who bought Gedding Hall in 1968 from Geoff Allen, godfather of the Kray twins, notorious British gangsters of the era. Complete with a 30-foot moat, bridge, and tower, the place was the Tudor fantasy Wyman craved. "I've researched everyone who has lived on the property back to 1150. One, whose family lived here for 250 years, was be- headed."

The Kray Twins are also mentioned in “Life” on pg. 231. Keith and company noticed “two strange beach boys [in Tangiers] walking along, dressed in suits, looking like the Blues Brothers.”

Really liked Redlands, kind of a homey feel to the place even though it's large. Stargroves on the other hand seems formal, ostentacious. I think living in a place like that would mess with your head. Thanks Liz.

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested." Sir Francis Bacon, Of Studies

Don't think the building in Courtfield Gardens looks right either. I've always read it was Courtfield Road so I assume thats why Musictrecker claims its where the hotel is. Must have been extensively remodelled on the outside if it is though. A mystery. Looking further into this I've discovered tha apparentlythe building that had Brian and Anitas flat was demolished some years ago and has been replaced by another more modern building which may be part of Bailey's hotel so not actually the hotel itself This was found from a discussion some years ago on the Rolling Stones forum

Redlands is a lovely house I have some lovely pics of Keith taken in and around it from 1966 just after he bought it.

Gilbert's Girl wrote:Don't think the building in Courtfield Gardens looks right either. I've always read it was Courtfield Road so I assume thats why Musictrecker claims its where the hotel is. Must have been extensively remodelled on the outside if it is though. A mystery. Looking further into this I've discovered tha apparentlythe building that had Brian and Anitas flat was demolished some years ago and has been replaced by another more modern building which may be part of Bailey's hotel so not actually the hotel itself This was found from a discussion some years ago on the Rolling Stones forum

Redlands is a lovely house I have some lovely pics of Keith taken in and around it from 1966 just after he bought it.

Thanks for finding that. It is very confusing, though, because Keith refers to it differently within 2 pages. Once he says "on Courtfield Road" and then he talks about "Courtfield Gardens." He probably did it to mess with our heads.

You can't judge a book by its cover.

The only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story.

Gilbert's Girl wrote:Don't think the building in Courtfield Gardens looks right either. I've always read it was Courtfield Road so I assume thats why Musictrecker claims its where the hotel is. Must have been extensively remodelled on the outside if it is though. A mystery. Looking further into this I've discovered tha apparentlythe building that had Brian and Anitas flat was demolished some years ago and has been replaced by another more modern building which may be part of Bailey's hotel so not actually the hotel itself This was found from a discussion some years ago on the Rolling Stones forum

Redlands is a lovely house I have some lovely pics of Keith taken in and around it from 1966 just after he bought it.

Thanks for finding that. It is very confusing, though, because Keith refers to it differently within 2 pages. Once he says "on Courtfield Road" and then he talks about "Courtfield Gardens." He probably did it to mess with our heads.

Well it certainly doesn't look like the houses in Courtfield Gardens and Keith may have just made an error in recounting. I looked on Google maps street view and there is certainly a very large modern building after the hotel and I think is an extension to the hotel, and the person on the RS forum said that the houses on Courtfield Road now don't start until number 17 this would fit with what can be seen.